I share the frustration lying at the heart of that question. It’s not possible to be confronted with the endless horrors people endure in places like Syria, South Sudan and Afghanistan without a sense of outrage. And it’s an easy step from there to be cynical about whether the basic human values enshrined in the Geneva Conventionsare still intact and able to provide the protection they promise. Furthermore, the complexity of modern conflict, with increased extremism and wars without borders, adds challenges.

This law, like any law, won’t stop all suffering. This may sound counter-intuitive. But importantly, the law has never been stronger or better known by the public and the outrage expressed when it is breached has never been greater. So although it may be tempting to say the Geneva conventions don’t work, that would be a fallacy.

Link to The Guardian full article and the five reasons why it’s dangerous to give up on the Geneva Conventions.

INTERCROSS

Intercross is the blog of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Washington D.C.. It is a place for timely news, commentary on armed conflict and violence, humanitarian action, and the rules of war.

Intercross was started in 2011 as a blog and morphed into a podcast-only site in December 2018. (We are no longer actively adding blog content to the site, however you can still peruse our archive of rich content from the beginning here.)

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